Ajax Veterans Street Dedication: Greenhalf Drive

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Street Name: Greenhalf Drive
Name of Veteran: Thomas Frank Greenhalf October 26, 1917-1968
Rank: Stoker, 1st Class
Ship Served: HMS Ajax
Date of Service on Ship: Feb. 17, 1938 to May 1, 1940
Year of Visit/Dedication: n/a
Veteran or Family Visit: n/a
Veteran of the Battle of the River Plate: Yes
Died at Battle: No

Thomas Frank Greenhalf was born on October 27, 1917. He joined the Royal Navy in 1937 and served onboard HMS Ajax from February 1938 to May 1940. He was a stoker, 1st class during the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay.

Thomas served several other ships while in the Royal Navy and received many good conduct badges and was rated at a superior efficiency.

While on shore leave from HMS Kent in 1943 Thomas married Elizabeth Edith Buckley (Betty) and together they had two children, Keith and Angela. Thomas was discharged from the Royal Navy in 1949 and very nearly died after contracting Tuberculosis. He made a full recovery and joined a multi-national company with offices in London called Babcock and Wilcox. Shortly after the war Thomas and Betty moved the family from east London to Romford in Essex. The Blitz caused massive damage in east London so they were given a new council house.

Thomas progressed quickly in his career as a boiler engineer with Babcock and Wilcox and so moved to a bigger house in Noak Hill, near Romford. His untimely death in 1968 was due to a road traffic accident in Euston, London. He was only 50 years old. Betty never remarried, and she died in 2002 at the age of 85.

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